Margaret C. - age 86 - Kathleen Cosgrove

My life has been blessed, full of joy, family, friends, and opportunities to use the gifts that God
gave me. I find balance in life by being civically, academically, and spiritually engaged.
My values were instilled in me at a young age, growing up the 8th of 9 children in Shreveport,
Louisiana. I was very verbal, and I loved school and learning. My father was a Baptist minister
wand my mother cooked at the school. They were strong advocates for civil rights. I started
handing out voter registration cards when I was six years old.

I dropped out of Gambling State University after 2 ½ years and got married to a man in the
military. When he came home, he wasn’t the same. What I know now is that he had PTSD, and he
became abusive. After getting out of the hospital in 1967, this time with a broken jaw, I got on a
train with my five children and moved to Oregon, sight unseen.

I worked doing anything that was legal and helped the community. I got a job as an assistant
teacher when one of my colleagues encouraged me to go back to school. I got an undergraduate
degree and eventually a master’s in counseling. I was part of the counseling faculty of Portland
Community College for 27 years.

I stayed engaged in the community. In 1983 I was asked to run for the Oregon House of
Representatives. And that was the beginning of a 30+ year career as a public official: the first Black
woman elected to the Oregon Legislature. I served in the House for 14 years, and then in the
Senate, including service as Senate President Pro Tempore and Co-chair of the Legislature’s
Joint Ways and Means Committee.

I believe we should never give up on the mission to educate communities that don’t live where
we are. And we should never stop working to make a difference, wherever you we can.